CDP Student-Faculty Research

The CDP program is in a unique geographical setting in central Massachusetts. Worcester is, in a lot of ways, a great laboratory for CDP and IDCE students to address important issues affecting a culturally diverse community and participate in publicly engaged research.

For ways to get involved locally, see the CDP Graduate Student Guide to Worcester. This document, written by CDP students, provides an overview of local organizations and initiatives going on in the city of Worcester, Massachusetts. While a student in the program, you may have the opportunity to participate in any of the ongoing research initiatives.

Amar Cid (CDP/MA ’08) co-authored a paper with Yelena Ognever-Himmelberger and Sheryl-Ann Simpson (CDP/MA ’08) on spatial analysis, using vector and raster GIS to understand the different levels of accessibility for residents in Worcester to “healthy” amenities.

Greg Paskach (CDP/MA ’08) is a research assistant for Laurie Ross and Ellen Foley on the Charles E. Shannon community safety initiative, collecting data from youth participants and program partners. Worcester is one of several sites in Mass. working to reduce youth and gang violence through the initiative.

Quinton Robinson (CDP/MA ’09) is working as a research assistant on the Worcester Weed and Seed Grant with Laurie Ross and Amar Cid (CDP/MA ’08).

CDP faculty and students put theory into action through community building projects for local partner organizations, such as:

Worcester Education Partnership

Worcester Education Partnership received an $8-million Carnegie Corporation grant to implement systemic education reform in Worcester's secondary schools. CDP students are involved in the research on how high school students experience components of the secondary school transformation plan. In response to growing disparity between academic outcomes in urban and suburban school districts, and recognition that many graduates from city high schools are not prepared for 21st-century careers, urban high school transformation is happening across the nation.

An emerging trend in transformation efforts is a shift from large comprehensive high schools to small learning communities. Worcester is deeply involved in this transformation process as one of seven urban school districts that have been chosen to participate in the Carnegie Corporation of New York's "Schools for a New Society" initiative.

IDCE is directly connected with the five-year $8-million Carnegie Grant awarded to Clark's Hiatt Center for Urban Education. CDP Program Coordinator Laurie Ross directs the local evaluation of the grant, which focuses on how students experience the transformation from large to small learning communities.

As research assistants for the project, IDCE grad students Angel Riepe and Jen Smith worked on cutting-edge school reform projects. Jennifer Smith in Fall 2003 assisted with the presentation of results from Year I to the district leadership team including the superintendent and other school administrators. These presentations help the District reflect on successes and identify areas that remain as challenges to fully implementing the vision of small learning communities.

Executive Office of Economic Development

Revitalization of downtown Worcester is a priority for Director of Economic Development George Ciccone. To identify current best practices, CDP students Lara Bold and Mike Colan (CDP/MA'05) worked with the Executive Office of Economic Development and writing case studies of exemplary downtown revitalization efforts in other cities.

"The students examined the whole range of enabling legislation, including zoning, and are investigating effective urban revitalization tools," says CDP Coordinator Laurie Ross. "They also explored the impact of existing policies, such as the effect of tax incremental financing (TIFs)." Their final report was presented with recommendations to the Executive Office of Economic Development.

Worcester Housing Authority

As a result of a direct request from Housing Authority Director Ray Mariano, CDP students Angel Riepe and Colleen Adams worked as interns with the Housing Authority under the supervision of Deputy Directory Michael Murphy. To comply with HUD funding regulations, the Authority needed to have a comprehensive understanding of the numbers and needs of disabled residents in Worcester. Using census data, other housing studies, tenant interviews, and interviews and focus groups with service providers, the students compiled their findings into a report with recommendations and presented it to the Housing Authority. Given the difficulty of acquiring this information, other groups, including the Massachusetts Department of Mental Retardation, have requested copies of this report.

"The students' help was invaluable; the data they collected we couldn't get from any other sources, and our office could not devote the amount of time required to get this important, practical data. The students put in the necessary time and energy to deliver a great final product. We have used their report, forwarded it to HUD, and shared it with other City agencies, so their work is far reaching. The Housing Authority's partnership with Clark was wonderful. This is the second time the Housing Authority has been involved with Professor Ross's CDP students, and I hope the partnership will continue. The students' attitude and willingness to provide quality work were excellent," says Deputy Director Michael Murphy.

Worcester Common Ground

Worcester Common Ground Community Development Corporation requested the students in the Spring 2004 CDP Practicum to assist with a Neighborhood Planning Process for the Piedmont neighborhood. The CDC hopes to expand economic development efforts and affordable housing, especially for first-time homebuyers in the Piedmont community, a densely populated low-income area with only 12 percent home ownership. Overall, the CDC wants to be more responsive to neighborhood needs and concerns. To do this, Worcester Common Ground recognized it needed to get in touch with residents and resident priorities and invited IDCE to participate.

"A big part of community building is listening. For this neighborhood planning process, our students will make use of participatory tools and GIS," notes Ross.

The CDP students worked in three groups:

Social Capital Group used participatory tools to bring neighbors together to capture knowledge and strengthen social ties in the neighborhood.

Economic Development Work Group surveyed businesses and residents to identify an economic development vision, using GIS to map areas suitable for commercial development. Residents, the CDC, and the city will use this data to make economic development decisions.

Environment Work Group held a series "Community Cafes," to understand the residents' perceptions of environmental problems in the neighborhood. In this way, Worcester Common Ground will have needed information to mobilize residents to address pressing environmental quality of life issues in the neighborhood.

Urban Community Action Planning (UCAP)

Urban Community Action Planning (UCAP) is a participatory, systematic community development approach. Adapted from Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), UCAP uses a grassroots development framework developed in rural areas in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. PRA operates under the following three assumptions (Ford, 1992):

Local Knowledge: Community members have knowledge and information about local problems, but they need help organizing this information.
Local Resources: Community members have resources (time, money, connections with local government, family, organizations, etc.), but these resources need to be mobilized.
Attracting Outside Help: Outside re-sources are available, but they need to be defined in the context of community-identified priorities.

In the SPARCS version of UCAP, the PRA philosophy is retained, namely that neighbor-hood residents hold essential knowledge about resources in their neighborhoods, and that partnerships between communities, agencies, and local government can be established on the community's terms. To address the differences between rural and urban settings, SPARCS modified the PRA data gathering and analysis strategies so as to be highly visible, accessible, relevant, and cumulative.

Through four phases of data collection and analysis, UCAP enables teenagers to collect rich information about community needs, strengths, resources, and the barriers that prevent a community from realizing its vision for itself. Teens and other residents then use this information to develop action plans based on community-identified problems, analyses of underlying causes, and community-generated solutions. Because UCAP assembles and then systematically narrows large amounts of data, this information helps the community to create an action plan. UCAP therefore acts like a funnel for community-based information management and, eventually, action.

Due to the cumulative nature of the data collection process, each phase informs the next. For example, information from Phase One interviews and maps is brought into Phase Two focus groups, and the in-formation from the focus groups informs the agenda for Phase Three, Identifying Local Priorities. Finally, the small groups emerging from priority setting become cores of working groups for Phase Four, Community Action Planning. In each of these phases, students and other community members, the staff of schools, and community-based organizations analyze the data.

In this way, students and other community members recognize their input into each stage of the process and feel ownership over the results. When residents of all ages organize and combine their knowledge, prioritize their concerns, and mobilize their resources into clear and concise action plans, they are poised to collaborate with public and private organizations to create programs and services that benefit all sectors of an urban community.